Cooperative action between fishermen and inspectors in the Svalbard Zone

Bibliographic Data

ID9222392
AuthorsGeir Honneland (Fridtjof Nansen Institute, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume35
Issue194
Pages207-214
Publication date1999-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolar Record (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-2474 • E-ISSN: 1475-3057
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0032247400015497
OpenAlexW1998047380
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited16

This article demonstrates that, similar to the many cases of self-regulation of local commons, it is in certain conditions also possible to manage an international ocean-fishery without the use of direct coercion. The case study from the Svalbard Zone supports the argument of cooperative action theory: that a limited number of participants, rules at least partly designed by the users themselves, and a system of graduated punishment contribute to compliance with established rules. Based on observational data as well as in-depth interviews with Norwegian and Russian fishermen in the area, it seems particularly fruitful to conceive of the Norwegian Coast Guard not only as a state enforcement body in the Svalbard Zone, but its representatives also as constituent parts of a social system, a ‘seafaring community,’ in the area. When, due to jurisdictional dispute, it has been impossible to rely fully on external regulation in the area, the Coast Guard has taken upon itself the role of the mediator, admittedly representing state interests, but nevertheless aimed at achieving consensus with the fishing fleet on important regulation issues. Hence, the internal authority of this Arctic Ocean fisheries lies above all in the interface between fishermen's and inspector's arguments, and in the social relations accompanying the exchange of professional opinions

Arctic · Argument (complex analysis) · Business · Coast guard · Enforcement · Environmental protection · Fishery · Fishing · Geography · Law and economics · Political science · Sociology · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Law · Oceanography

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